It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Boston Red Sox, but an early-season surge put them, for a time, atop the American League East. And, despite a late-summer slide and a COVID-19 outbreak, Boston managed to secure a wild-card berth on the final day of the regular season.
The Red Sox then got red-hot in October, beating the New York Yankees in the wild-card game and the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, ultimately falling just short of the Fall Classic, losing to the Houston Astros in a hard-fought ALCS.